“Identical to what was on Yuanzhi back then.”

Zhang Tuhu withdrew his hands without strength, voice rough.

He’d thought all along that it was Master Benjie being influenced by Yuangang — that this was why he’d been suppressed all these years, denied the Jade Liquid body-refinement teachings.

Looking at things now, his own blunt, hot-headed temperament had probably made the inner circle decide he wasn’t someone they’d share the real method with. Even decent talent was expendable when they made that call.

The other Commanders and Deputy Commanders were listening with some confusion, not entirely following.

Shen Yi looked at the abbot on the ground and slowly pulled his attention away.

“Outer disciples — take them for questioning. Inner disciples — bring them all in to the Division.”

Take versus bring in.

The distinction sent the disciples inside the pagoda and those outside the gate to opposite emotional extremes in a single breath.

Taken for questioning — as long as you hadn’t done anything serious, you’d be let go when it was done.

Brought in to the Division was a different category entirely. That was how demons were handled. With sufficient evidence, it ended in a head on the ground.

“Commander Shen is just!”

The outer disciples were sprawled on the floor, breathing in heaving pulls. Anyone who’d spent time in the jianghu had things in their past they’d rather not discuss — but compared to collusion with demons, those were minor matters. A stretch in a cell at worst. The life stayed attached.

Inside the pagoda, the inner disciples had gripped their weapons, unease visible in every face.

Golden-eagle Commanders moved quickly upward under their Deputy Commander, heavy demon-suppression chains uncoiling like dragons through the air, the sound filling the space around them.

“Where is your abbot?”

Shen Yi slid Erhei back into the scabbard.

“…”

When he heard Zhang Tuhu speak the name Yuanzhi, Benjie’s last hope dissolved.

He clenched his jaw and stared at the young man’s profile with an expression not far from Yuangang’s — the same venom, the same wariness.

The brief exchange of force had made the gap between them perfectly clear. And with this many Division Commanders present — there was no escape today, with or without wings.

The saber going back into the scabbard didn’t mean clemency. It meant there was no point expending effort on a dead man.

Striking a personal attendant Deputy Commander of the Division in Qingzhou city — what technique you cultivated no longer mattered.

As if confirming his assessment, someone brought a qi-suppressing chain over and began binding him.

The old monk’s breath came faster. He looked at the pagoda — at the inner disciples standing there in panic. Once they were all in the Division’s hands, he knew exactly what methods would be used. The moment one of them said something they shouldn’t, heads would fall.

He made his decision quickly.

Benjie’s voice rose sharply:

“Commander Shen wants to settle a personal score — this old monk’s worthless life is yours for the taking!”

“But you will never succeed in smearing the Jingang School’s name!”

The voice dropped. His expression went to something worse.

“You want to know where the abbot is? Dream on.”

Before anyone could move, the bound arms wrenched upward and two iron palms drove toward his own jaw without hesitation.

Body-refinement practitioners were genuinely rare, particularly the few talented enough to reach the Jade Liquid Realm through that path. Even with the chains suppressing his qi sea, the old monk still had partial strength.

The golden-eagle Commander holding the chain was yanked off-balance twice, about to shout—

Crack.

The old monk snapped his own neck. The round, bald head dropped at an angle no neck should accommodate.

“Senior Uncle—!”

Inside the pagoda, every inner disciple went rigid, then immediately understood what they’d just been shown. Their weapons dropped. They pressed the fear down, sweat soaking through, and shut their mouths.

Senior Uncle Benjie had just spent his life to tell them—

Don’t let this Division dog intimidate you.

Practicing the Bodhi Vajra Sacred Body isn’t a capital offense.

The school had changed its cultivation method — that was hardly a secret. The Division certainly knew. Benjie and his disciples had struck a Division Commander, so Benjie wouldn’t survive the night regardless — but why should the rest of them fear anything? If Shen Yi had evidence, he wouldn’t have been waiting this long to act.

“This is—”

Hong Lei moved quickly to Shen Yi’s side, face going a color it didn’t usually wear.

“I’ll get people to investigate right now.”

The question of the Jingang School’s problems no longer needed discussing.

When the Commanders had poured out earlier, Qingzhou had gone to full alert. Nothing was flying out of this city tonight.

Finding an old monk’s whereabouts wasn’t difficult — but once it moved outside the walls, even the most careful handling couldn’t prevent word from reaching someone. Benjie had killed himself to buy that sliver of time, to seal the inner disciples’ mouths — as long as the abbot had enough warning to destroy the evidence, the school would take heavy losses but survive to recover.

He’d also just managed to dig a abuse of authority for personal reasons hole for Shen Yi to fall into.

“…”

Shen Yi looked at the body on the ground with a faintly raised eyebrow.

That reaction was a bit much for a casual question.

He reached for the silver bell at his hip, channeled qi into it. “A small favor — I’d like to know where the Jingang School’s abbot is.”

Several breaths passed. Voices came through the qi into his ear.

“No trouble at all. Pingkang Mountain. I passed by half a month ago.”

“The Jingang School has a custom of taking lay followers to the mountains to collect qi. They change locations periodically.”

“Ha — fake monks stealing from Daoist breathing techniques as well? Though I’ve heard of this before. Apparently many followers end up staying for years. Every few months they send letters home inviting family to join. The ones who do visit home become devoted and hurry back.”

Qingzhou was the main city of twelve prefectures. Tonight’s commotion had already drawn a number of demon-hunters who’d been in the area. They’d come to look — and now they’d answered.

Shen Yi tucked the bell away and found Hong Lei staring at him with an odd expression.

“Something wrong?”

“No — nothing.”

Hong Lei waved it off and swallowed.

He’d been a Deputy Commander long enough to have dealt with demon-hunters before. But he’d never personally seen a silver bell.

He shook his head. Those lunatics — the less you saw of their equipment, the better.

Jade Liquid Perfection was barely the minimum threshold for holding a silver bell. Every one of them who’d taken a bell and actually survived was rumored to have reached the Condensate Realm.

The short lifespan wasn’t because the demon-hunter rules were harsh.

It was more that anyone who rose out of the rank and file was demonstrably not quite right in the head. Wandering alone, stumbling into a demon lord’s territory at a higher cultivation level than your own — and instead of running, deciding you absolutely had to collect a thread of their qi first to bring back for the reward.

So that’s why Commander Shen doesn’t seem particularly attached to the General’s arrangement. The picture was clearer now.

Hong Lei bent with a certain expression and picked up Benjie’s body.

“What were you in a hurry about,” he muttered.

The inner disciples were being fully restrained — chains wound tighter than usual, given recent events, and specialized silver hooks threaded through the shoulder bones for good measure.

“Commander Shen — if you’re leaving the city, a personal attendant Deputy Commander can lead at most a hundred and twenty people and three Deputy Commanders.” Hong Lei looked over. “You don’t have your own unit yet. We can put something together temporarily — though I’m not sure it would be enough.”

It looked like only one step remained. But if the abbot’s cultivation level had actually reached what the rumors suggested, that last step was genuinely difficult.

At Qingfeng Mountain, Chen Qiankun had been the commanding general, responsible for everything that went wrong. Taking down the Sect Master, destroying the Founding Sword, driving the flood dragon out — Shen Yi had just moved faster at the end.

Now Shen Yi was leading Division Commanders to eliminate a demon on his own authority, without reporting to the General. The power that came with the personal attendant rank had its advantages — and its weight.

If this went wrong, it wasn’t only a life lost.

It was the face of the entire Qingzhou Division.

(End of Chapter)